EABF Whats there to come back from??? You can invent whatever prediction you like 2 years after the fact. I actually have spent some time in the European rugby community and the AB's are as big as it gets. They are universally known and we're not talking just Western Europe either. How about you have a look on Youtube at all the posts and comments from the the Italians about the match. They and the 80000 fans seem to think it was a big deal! Yes rugby is a minority sport but when you can travel to Turkey, Russia or Slovenia and they still know what Rugby is and who the AB's are I'd say it gettin pretty big. It seems to me your sad little Henry obsesion is seriously clouding your brain to the point that its proberbly not that healthy. Let it go dude.

The silence is deafening....not one come back from the Henry/Steve Tew fan club!

I suggest you lads read Fridays Herald article- "All Blacks under the radar in soccer mad city"!!!! For a bit of commonsense perspective... Including the quote - "There has been only a tiny media awareness of the test " Game,set and match! It amuses me that many New Zealanders can't see how big the world is outside their little fishbowl..... Oh and to all you salivating Graham Henry fans who are rubbishing me ...especially Trav who claims I am always proved wrong??? I think I was pretty much spot on when I predicted Henrys pampered reconditioned pretty boys would crash out of the World Cup in '07!!! Seemingly you guys missed that??? World Cup??? No???

ex all black fan, go away bro, why comment on a allblacks (nz rugby) articles when you clearly dont even support them. Trav of perth is right your a complete muppet. The all blacks are second for now but watch the next few years, our depth is going to be amazing. im not saying that gauruntees the world cup, but it bloody should do. Go the Ab's. Smash Italians, Roll the Whingy Poms, and step over the Frogs.

Ex ab fan: I will follow the crowd in commenting on your posts. I am currently living in London. Yep, Rugby is not the biggest sport in the UK, let alone Europe mate, with football been the main one. But the interesting thing is like Italy, people that normally dont care much about rugby, know who the all blacks are and want to see them in person or play. This is the first time anything other than a football team has sold the san siro out. They are the biggest team in the sport and the Italian trip has been used a lot for promtional with the adidas deal. Adidas pay a lot of money for this and are just taking some exposure back now. Unfortunately this is part of been an all black now. But hey mate, maybe these guys shouldnt be allowed to have fun, lock them in there rooms, would that make you happy.

Have to agree with Ex All Black Fan. The fact that All Blacks choke at every World Cup suggests that the talent drain hasn't been overcome since 1987.

The NZ Rugby media needs to be asking if enough has been done to prevent future implosions at World Cup time, instead of gushing everytime we beat nobody teams like Wales or Italy.

So what are you a fan of then Ex AB Fan? Maybe stick to commenting on that. I not only "spend a lot of time overseas" - I actually live abroad (big deal right) - the AB's are highly regarded worldwide and are quite possibly NZs biggest promotional tool. If you don't like them then change the channel

Guys,

just for the record, hosting a Rugby match in San Siro its a HUGE event for us in Italy and trust me, pretty unusual!! As many NZ reporters wrote in these days Italy is (sad but true) a Football-centric country... But rugby fans are growing and growing since Italy compete @ Six Nations.

So said, ABs are considered "the best of the best" and having the chance to see them in a place like San Siro, facing our national team its a dream, at least for us italians rugby addicted.

Nobody here believe Italy have a 0,1% to beat the ABs, but who cares?? It will be a big Sport day, we'll have a chance to see a great play and have fun.

Er, I can think of one country that would not "snap up the Wellington No8 in a heartbeat": South Africa.

lol @ EABF you get chopped up in this section all the time dude!! Your comments are funny even when you mean to be serious!But you are still a ex AB fan so anything you say is just bollocks anyway hahaha

As soon as i read the sentence "Quality players like Taniela Moa" i knew Toby was typing maybe drunk on that paragraph. I mean c'mon Toby at least pick someone decent to mention instead of this chump as an example. He got what he deserved this time round,and it's even better to see no sign of Tasesa Lavea in the Blues squad. Awesome to see the depth starting to come through again and even better we have all these quality AB's battling each other for a spot in the starting team.C'mon the Mighty AB's! We need a massive win this weekend to give us some solid forward momentum for the rest of the tour. Can't wait to see what the new crop of AB's brings to the table!